1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical element, a lithographic apparatus including such an optical element, a device manufacturing method, and a device manufactured thereby.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. including part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the “scanning” direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In addition to Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) radiation, an EUV source emits many different wavelengths of light. This non-EUV radiation may be harmful for the EUV lithography system, so it should be removed by a spectral purity filter. Present spectral purity filters are based on blazed gratings. These gratings may be difficult to produce, since the surface quality of the triangular shaped pattern has to be very high. The roughness of the surface should be lower than 1 nm RMS.